No Reservations (Special Ops: Tribute Book 1) by Kate Aster

Aidan
acting a little strange there?”
    “No, I noticed, too.” Maddox agreed. “Don’t mind him. They’re
probably headed out soon. He always gets pissy before a mission.”
    Pressing her lips together, her nod was slight. “I hope
that’s all it is.”
    Maddox cocked his head. “You worry too much.”
    “Of course I do. I’m a mom. And it doesn’t help that I’m
surrounded by a bunch of SEALs.”
    “Technically, it’s called a rookery of seals.”
    Her eyes rolled upwards. “I’ll bet you’ve been waiting years
to use that line.”
     “I have.” He grinned back. “I really have.”
    Shaking her head, her shoulders rose and fell as she sighed.
“Thanks for all the work you’re putting into this, Maddox. I feel guilty that
you’re doing it alone.”
    “Don’t. I like doing it. You know what a control freak I am.
If you were out here right now, we’d probably be arguing all the time, anyway.”
    “Yeah, you are kind of bull-headed.”
    “So what’s really going on out there? You look a little stressed.”
    She bit her lip. “It’s hard, you know? Leaving Arizona. I
know I need to get back East. Brandon’s getting older and it’ll be good for him
to have his uncle nearby. He needs some kind of male presence in his life. Now
that Joe’s at the Pentagon for a while, I should take advantage, you know?”
    “And I’ll be here when he’s not.”
    “Right. Exactly. But Arizona… it’s where he last left me. I
feel like by leaving, I’m accepting he’s really not coming back.” Tears shone
in her eyes in the image on Maddox’s monitor. “It’s been years, for God’s sake.
You’d think I’d be over this by now.”
    “You left Fort Huachuca. You found the strength for that,”
he reminded her. “Look, if you want to back out, I’m okay with that and the
guys will understand, too. This would be the time to do it. Maybe you don’t
need the pressure of this.”
    “No. Are you kidding? This was Brian’s dream for after he
retired— our dream—opening up a shop like his dad’s.” Her
expression transformed to a smirk. “He never would have imagined me doing it in
a Navy town—”
    Maddox laughed. Becca’s husband had been a graduate of West
Point, the Naval Academy’s arch enemy in football every December.
    “—but he would have wanted this. He’d be so proud. I
just wish…” Her voice trailed, and she didn’t even need to finish her sentence
for Maddox to know what she was thinking.
    He wished she were doing this with her husband,
too—not some crazy band of SEAL brothers and their former CO. He wished
that for her and her son with everything he had and everything he was.
    For more reasons than he cared to admit.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Captain Joe Shey had always looked intimidating as hell.
    It wasn’t the uniform that he’d chosen to wear for their late
afternoon meeting. It wasn’t the impressive array of medals on his chest. It
wasn’t how he held himself in such a way that all other guys in the room always
looked a foot shorter than him, even if they weren’t.
    After serving under his command, Maddox was immune to those
things. Instead, it was that steely-eyed look the Captain got in his eyes, the
kind of look that could make a guy crap his pants and feel like he’d just been
called to Captain’s Mast.
    That look was the stuff of legends among the Teams, and
Maddox spent the years under Joe’s command working very hard to try to avoid
it.
    But that look was pretty damn useful when negotiating
for a lower rent today.
    “Thanks for coming on such short notice today, Captain.”
    Joe nodded as they strode along State Circle toward Maryland
Avenue. “Glad to help. First time I’ve managed to leave the Pentagon before five
o’clock in ages. I might have to try it again sometime. Not sure if my presence
did anything, though.”
    “They accepted our terms. I’d say it did.”
    Joe shrugged casually. “Could have done that on your own.”
    Maddox eyed